Chapter 135

The hot sunlight forced me to open my eyes.

I sat up, struggling to gather my groggy mind.

As I rubbed my eyes, my vision gradually cleared.

I retraced the events of yesterday, or more precisely, just moments ago.

Suddenly, something charged at me and collided head-on.

The force, which should have been a mere shove, felt as if it was pulling my soul out of me.

“Isn’t this Abyss Branch 15?”

It was a familiar space that welcomed me as soon as I met my death in Part 1.

It was originally the world I had aimed for.

What was it?

In the end, I found my way here, but…

Did I really see something that wasn’t there? Or did a collision occur while leaping through the open world?

And my doubts were resolved the moment the inn’s door opened.

“You’re awake, Sis! Do you know how much I’ve worried?”

“Adella? What are you doing here?”

This Adella wasn’t the one from this world.

She didn’t know anything about me yet.

And above all, she was calling me ‘Sis’ instead of No Name.

Moreover, my body, which I had exchanged with Adella, had returned to its original state, my flowing blonde hair now within my grasp.

“I-I don’t know! Suddenly a demon appeared and I was running for my life, and then you were suddenly right in front of me…!”

Adella rambled as she explained.

I furrowed my brow and opened the event window, feeling a ‘no way’ moment.

[14:20][The duration of ‘soul exchange’ has ended.]

[14:21][NoName ⥨ Adella]

[14:21][Adella ⥨ NoName]

Did the skill end up pulling Adella into this world during the process of exchanging souls again?

I pondered while stroking my chin.

It might actually be a good thing.

Then Mephistopheles would still be summoned, and Adella wouldn’t have to worry about being killed since she was with me.

For a moment, Adella and I locked eyes.

“Adella, can you say ‘What are you doing’ once?”

“What am I doing?”

“Now say ‘Is it fun?’”

“Is it fun? Like this?”

Yes, Adella saying those words is cute, but I didn’t particularly want to live in that body.

“First, let’s pack our things and head out. We just need to get to where Professor Cronicle was, and then we can move on to the next world.”

“Wait, Sis!”

Her hand rested on mine, gripping the doorknob.

I exchanged glances with her as she wore a meaningful expression.

“What is it?”

“No matter how I think about it, this place feels strange.”

“It is a strange world. It’s a place we passed through once.”

“No, that’s not what I mean! It’s much more…!”

Clonk—!

The door opened on its own even though I hadn’t turned the handle yet.

I almost lost my balance and fell with Adella, but I wouldn’t let that happen twice.

“Are you all right? I didn’t know someone was trying to come out, so I’m sorry for opening it suddenly.”

Adella jumped in surprise at the gravelly voice of a middle-aged man and ran back into the corner of the room.

He was stout, and it was hard to discern his body shape through the multiple layers of black cloak he wrapped around himself.

However, as someone who had repeatedly regressed in Part 1, I recognized him right away despite any changes.

“Gestalt…?”

“Oh ho, do you know me too?”

His hair was quite lush.

* * *

– Isn’t this the appearance from Gestalt’s sub-quest flashback?

– Yeah, he definitely looks younger.

– But that’s not the story mode.

– Yeah, it only appears simply as a flashback.

I cast a sidelong glance, scanning the chat windows.

So while it was true that I came to the past world, the problem was that it wasn’t the ‘player’s’ past.

“Could I ask you a favor? Since we’re people who make a living off our swords, we’re really bad at babysitting. Could you watch over the kid until tonight?”

I went down to the basement, just like the first time I visited the chief’s office, passing through the narrow hallway.

From the light seeping from the last door, it was clear there was someone inside.

“The kid doesn’t listen to me at all… Haha, being the same species, wouldn’t it listen to you?”

He gave a sly smile and patted Adella’s back. Not wanting to just take the hits, she dodged his rough hands and came to my side, crossing her arms.

Creeeak—

“Then I’ll leave it to you. The mother said she’d come back tonight. The child will be quite lonely.”

Adella took a deep breath, feeling unnecessarily tense, and carefully opened the door.

As soon as the door swung wide open, a small two-year-old child came running.

The little legs couldn’t keep up the pace and collapsed right in front of us, immediately bursting into tears.

“Waaaaaah!”

There was a cute tail on the child’s back, and its color was silver, just like Adella’s.

“Adella?”

“Could it be me…?”

The operators providing the roadmap couldn’t even imagine that we had returned to Adella’s past.

Life was a continuous uncertainty.

* * *

“Uh… uh, kid? Can you please stop…?”

“Yay! Sis, I want to do it again! Let my hair down!”

“If you keep pulling my hair like that, meowwwwww!”

Adella screamed, desperately conveying her plea for help.

In contrast, the kid seemed completely indifferent to Adella’s scalp.

The child twisted her hair this way and that, and with every tug of her fingers, Adella’s voice grew louder.

“Ugh… ugh… this is a nightmare. There can’t be a worse nightmare! Sis, just slap my face hard!”

– King Meow is teaching a lesson, lol.

– Is this that ‘ii i jae’ thing?

– A cat is a cat, lol.

– Why is little Adella so cute when she’s being hit?

– But real parenting is different, right?

– Damn, this chaotic thing looks just like my daughter…

└ Hey, it’s the weekend, stop watching the broadcast and go feed the kid.

It didn’t feel like we had played for long, but the sun was already beginning to set.

Maybe it was because the time in this past data was also set to fast-forward.

But perhaps because Adella was feeling the time we spent together was long, she seemed to be eagerly awaiting the night.

“Adella, do you remember anything from when you were a child?”

“Childhood? How many people can actually remember their childhood?”

“Hmmm…”

“By the way, it’s so strange. To think Gestalt knew me since I was little. Isn’t that kinda stalker-ish? Eww, that gives me chills!”

Adella didn’t realize that she had visited the Abyss branch when she was very young.

So it seemed her mind was quite disturbed right now.

I, being a reincarnator, was an exception, but indeed, people usually forget most of their childhood memories as they live on.

We must have certainly existed in that past, yet to confirm that fact, we had to rely solely on data such as photos or videos.

So what was the difference between that and artificial intelligence?

While Adella played with ‘Baby Adella’, I took a moment to look around the capital.

Thanks to that, I got to know a bit more about this world.

The famous Rement Academy, known for its large number of people, had not a single NPC in sight, as if it was a lie.

The only ones I saw were characters like Professor Cronicle or Alphonse Shippot lightly stretching in the training hall.

It seemed reasonable to call it a kind of ‘learning world’ created for NPCs to remember the past.

It was probably the world used to show the flashback scenes that the viewers spoke about.

– To our parents who raised us, you are indeed the GOAT.

– But why does the baby look so real, lol? I don’t even think it’s an NPC!

└ Lol, child-rearing (despair edition).

– Was the baby model applied with ASI, not ordinary AI?

– Professor Cronicle and Giselle Phoenix are also all the same ASI, but there seems to be a different sense of incongruity for each NPC.

– So, did they use a super ultra capstone ASI or what?

└ Indeed, the embodiment of the world’s strongest, Mephistopheles.

– But how do we get out now?

Knock—

The sound of despair resonated for the child who was playing happily, while for Adella, it sounded like a voice of salvation through the door.

“Will I really get to meet my real mom? I’ve been curious for a long time about what she looks like, the one who gave birth to me.”

In fact, the adult seemed to show even more anticipation than the child.

However, contrary to expectations, the door did not open, and instead, incomprehensible loud voices exchanged.

Adella and I exchanged glances and set the child down on the floor before cautiously putting our ears to the door.

One voice was definitely Gestalt’s. The other’s sharp voice was difficult to decipher apart from it being a woman.

“Just how did you raise the child to become like this? Are you even human? Huh!”

“What do you know about my child? If you’re so concerned, why don’t you raise her yourself?”

“What do you mean? Someone is not a thing you can just raise! Why are you doing this? You weren’t like this!”

“Hoo. Well then, what kind of person was I? Really, I have no idea, so I’m asking you, Gestalt.”

“Y-You!”

Gestalt’s voice trembled with rage.

At the same time, Adella’s expression grew increasingly serious as she listened.

Her hand was on the doorknob.

If she just turned the handle, she could see the face of her mother, whom she couldn’t even remember.

But although she was gripping tightly, the doorknob didn’t budge at all.

“Don’t keep living like that. No, if you are going to live, then live like that alone. But Adella cannot. Don’t push your daughter into the pit you created.”

“Do you think I care about your loud shouting? Do as you please. I’ve never particularly thought of her as my daughter, anyway. Ah, by the way, I don’t need to pay child support, right?”

“Truly, this is going too far…”

– Why is Adella going that far for someone who isn’t even her real daughter?

– Gestalt’s childhood friend and first love was Adella’s mother.

└ Whoa…!

└ This is a bit much…

└ Reuniting with a first love was the worst, it turned into the final evolution, whoa.

– The reason Adella survived in the alleys for over a decade was because Gestalt had always been watching over her.

└ Truly a distorted pure love.ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└ Where does this kind of story come from?

└ You must clear Mephistopheles without losing more than 90% health.

– Adella is stuck, what to do…

“Sis…”

Adella lowered her head and spoke in a muted voice.

“…”

“I’m just going to pretend today didn’t happen…”

Tears gathered around her unfocused eyes.

For a moment, she raised her head and looked at the ceiling.

After sending back the tears that had just emerged, Adella spoke calmly, her emerald-colored irises glistening.

“I don’t need to hear this to know there’s someone who likes me enough… I’ll just think of our mom as someone who was good to me.”

[system: Session expired.]

[system: Loading World]

[A critical error has occurred: 6a 61 69 6c 62 72 65 61 6b]

“Is it still okay, Sis?”